The science behind why dieting doesn't work

Living in California definitely has its pros and cons. One pro I was thinking about recently is that nearly everyone here is concerned about being healthy and fit. At any given morning in the local parks, you will find a few exercise classes going on, as well as one-on-one personal training. I never saw anything like that in Texas! However, this attempt to be healthy has a closely related con: dieting fads. When marketers for dieting products look for the ideal audience, California has got to be #1 on their list. Since moving here, I've met the all-protein-no-carb dieter, the all-juice dieter, the all-greens dieter, and the list goes on.

If you've read my first post ever (Setting goals like a boss), you probably already guessed that I am not a fan of dieting. The reasoning I gave in that post was based on my own logic- that if you adhere yourself to an impossible diet, your body in 3 weeks will have said "enough!" and in half an hour, that gallon of ice cream in your freezer is gone. But lately, I have done a lot of research and studying about the human fat cell and weight gain/loss. And with all that research, I've learned the actual science behind why dieting doesn't work, not just my own logic. When I was reading these studies, I was absolutely astounded (again!) at how amazing/annoying our bodies are. I think you'll be amazed as well at just how much sense it all makes. I'm so excited, I can't wait to tell you everything I've learned.

But...before getting into all that, I want to make one thing clear (and you'll see why in a minute). Although exercise is essential to weight loss, I truly believe that being "healthy" involves good nutrition in addition to exercise. Your healthiness is not dependent on your BMI, but on how you treat your body.

Ok, so let's jump right into the facts, starting with our body's resilience. I introduce to you "The Set Point Theory". Do you know that most people who start out on a weight loss journey, though successful initially, will return to their pre-weightloss weight within 2 years? Why on earth would our bodies do that to us? Well, basically, our bodies are programmed to run within a specific range of values. If we get outside of those values, our body takes drastic actions to get us back to the original range, or "set point". Example- our body is set to operate around temperatures of 98.6. So if our body temperature gets too high or too low, we  go through drastic changes to get it back to the set point (sweating, chills, lethargy, etc). Like every other aspect of our body, our body weight and body fat also have set points. If we lose or gain too much, our body deems it "abnormal" and takes measures into its own hands to get us back to the original range.This is why a 130 lb female can participate in an ice cream eating contest one night and still resume her normal weight later on. This is also why a 210 lb woman can diet like crazy, lose weight, and return to 210 lbs two years later.

HOWEVER, there is a very unfair catch to all of this. If our body does adjust to a new weight, it tends to increase weight much easier than decrease weight. Let's go back to the ice cream contest example. The 130 lb woman's body will not increase her weight or fat content just from one night of splurging. Her body will kick up her metabolism, decrease her appetite and make other adjustments to make up for the ice cream intake. However, if our female friend eats in an ice-cream contest every night, her body will slowly adjust her weight upward. Remember, our body tries to adjust to be normal. So if this woman is consuming a 500 calories more every night, her body begins to think THAT is the norm. And so she begins to put on weight (could this be why some women don't lose baby weight after pregnancy?). And yet, if a woman diets on a 1,600 calorie diet for a year and loses weight, her body does NOT adjust to her lower weight but rather puts those pounds back on within 24 months. WHYYYYYY?!?! It seems so unfair, right?

You have to understand the fat cell to grasp this concept. When our body increases our normal weight (aka when we put on the pounds), it does this by adding fat cells. Why? Well, because when we are eating more calories, our body needs a place to store it all and so into the fat cells it goes. When a fat cell gets too full and cannot store anymore, our body adds a new fat cell to take on the extra load. Once added, we CANNOT get rid of those fat cells. There is no delete, remove, or subtraction button for fat cells. Like I said, unfair huh? The only thing we can do is decrease the size of those cells. And that is the theory behind dieting- that you decrease your number of calories, carbs, fats, etc to shrink those cells down as low as they can go. But there's a problem with that. Once those fat cells start shrinking, alarms start going off in your body because...why? Because it's not "normal". Our body says, "Our fat cells are shriveling away into nothingness, we are in starvation mode!" You can yell at your brain all you want and say, "No, but this is what I WANT, don't stop it" and it's not going to work. People have tried.

So how does our body make up for the shrinking fat cells? It does everything it can to get them back up to size, which includes kicking up our appetite hormones (so we feel hungry all. the. time) and slowing down our metabolism (decreases our energy so we don't feel like doing anything). If you ignore the hunger pains repeatedly, your body's cues become completely disorganized and incorrectly placed. Dieters lose the ability to determine whether they are hungry, bored, or tired. They also lose the ability to determine when they are "full", which often leads to eating far beyond their satiety level. And if you've ever felt sluggish while dieting, it's because your body has slowed down your metabolism to the lowest possible level that can still maintain life. It does everything it can to "save" you.

So you can understand now why you can try a no-carb, all-juice, or 1500 calorie diet, lose a ton of weight, and then be right back to where you started weeks or months later. It also answers the question as to why yo-yo dieting actually ends up putting pounds on instead of taking them off. Does this seem depressing yet? Feel totally helpless? Well, actually there is a bright light at the end of this tunnel.

The fact is, people DO lose weight and keep it off. There are success stories out there. There have been several studies done to analyze those people and find a common pattern to their success. What have they all done right? The answer is this- exercise. Daily exercise. One study found that successful weight losers maintained a routine of 80 minutes moderate exercise or 35 minutes vigorous exercise daily. One study found that some dieters maintained a low cal diet (women 1300 cal, men 1700 cal) and were successful-- but they also exercised daily. This is why you cannot have lose weight with just a healthy diet. You must must must have the exercise component with it.

And there you have it- why I am not a fan of trendy diets. The best way I know to be healthy is to exercise daily and eat right. And there is a difference between eating right and dieting. Eating right is getting lots of fruits and veggies into your body and eating correct portions at mealtimes. You can eat dessert and still have a healthy diet. Eating right is eating all things in moderation. Dieting is restricting a certain food group or just food altogether. There is a reason your body needs carbs. There is a reason your body needs fats, proteins, calories, substance. If you completely eliminate one of those groups, your body senses something is wrong and tries desperately to fix it. And sometimes when our body does repairs, it can be more damaging than helpful.

Someone's idea of a low-cal diet. Indeed, it made me laugh

Phew, that was a long one! Thanks for hanging in there with me. I hoped you all learned as much as I did!